How to use 以…为…
以 + A + 为 + B
以…为… presents something as serving a particular role, basis, standard, or purpose. The item after 以 is what is being taken or used, and the item after 为 identifies how it is regarded. This concise structure appears often in formal descriptions, guiding principles, and established expressions. Its meaning resembles take A as B rather than the single verb 以为 meaning to think.
Choose the final role carefully because it defines the relationship. Common endings identify an example, a main focus, a goal, or a foundation. A sentence may contain several parallel 以…为… phrases to organize different aspects of a policy or approach. Pronounce 为 as wéi in this structure, distinguishing it from prepositional wèi for someone's benefit.
Examples with pinyin and English
请以这份报告为参考。
Please use this report as a reference.
The item after 以 is assigned the role after 为.
我们以提高质量为目标。
We take improving quality as our goal.
An action phrase can fill the A position.
以今天的天气为例，早晚温差很大。
Take today's weather as an example: temperatures vary greatly between morning and evening.
以…为例 introduces an illustrative case.
What to remember
- Keep A as the item being used or regarded.
- Let B identify its role or standard.
- Pronounce 为 as wéi in this construction.
Practise the pattern
Use one example as a model. Change the people, objects or situation, keeping the grammar pattern in the same order. Read the explanation again to check how your sentence uses the construction.
Look up the grammar words
Source and editorial notes
Explanation and examples written for Laowai using the grammar curriculum as a topic reference. The original curriculum credits AllSet Learning’s Chinese Grammar Wiki as used with permission. Read the retained source credits.
Difficulty labels describe the level of the explanation; they are not official HSK placement. Send a correction with this page’s URL.